Bryophytes Survey - Michigan

Questionnaire: Status, protection and knowledge of bryophytes

April 2003

A. Knowledge about declining bryophytes in your country

1. If a distinct decline of bryophytes occur in your region, which species (or taxonomic groups) have decreased mostly? Please give examples of the taxonomic group and information on its decline in the concerned area.

fugitives – there are few disturbed areas that remained disturbed (open soil banks, etc), so these species are difficult to find, e.g. Trematodon ambiguus, Pohlia's with visible brood bodies, Buxbaumia aphylla

2. Do you have any (outdated and recent) "Red Lists" for bryophytes in your country or in the region where you have studied bryophytes? If it is published – please tell us the literature reference. If it is not published – can you please send us a Xerox copy?

The forest Service lists species, but they have no official status.

3. Do you know if anything (beside the above mentioned Red Lists) is published/reported about change in the bryophyte flora in the region you know best?

no

4. Are any of your best bryophyte sites threatened in your area of concern or have they recently been destroyed? Can you mention one or several bryological “hot spots” in your region? (European bryologists can refer to the existing Bryophyte Register). Are any of your hot spots under threat?

so far, our hotspots are safe

I have published these "hotspots" in Glime, J. M. and Slavick, A. D. 1985. A checklist of bryophytes and their critical localities in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan. Michigan Botanist 24: 153-163.

5. Is there any research on endangered bryophytes or are there environmental studies involving bryophytes in your country/region?

There are publications on bryophytes of Isle Royale and for the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan; Crum and his students published a number of studies on the lower peninsula of Michigan and the lower Upper Peninsula. These are either checklists, new discoveries, or individual population studies – nothing that is looking at effects of environmental change.

6. Which are, in your opinion, probably the main causes for the decline of bryoflora in your region?

I can ony guess that there was a richer flora and certainly more cover before the mining days of the beginning of the century when most of the forests were cut.

B. Measures for protection of bryophytes

7. Are bryophytes in general or any bryophyte species protected by law in your country?

Ask Bill Buck about this, but I don't think so. There may be some in Oregon where there has been particular concern, and there are areas, I think, in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee where collecting is prohibited or by permit only.